About

SUNNY RAYMOND

Pastry Chef

Sunchar (“Sunny”) Raymond was born and raised on the beautiful island of St. Lucia, where putting on feasts in one’s home for dozens of friends and family is a regular occurrence. For Sunny, the daughter of a chef, this emphasis on food was even more pronounced. When Sunny was 15, she and her father baked, cut and assembled her first cake (white with vanilla frosting dyed green). That experience, and the pride she felt in the resulting cake, played an instrumental role in the development of her love of baking.

In 2001, Sunny took a job working in her father’s kitchen as a line cook at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on St. Lucia. From there, she moved to the kitchen at another hotel, the Sandals Halcyon, where she worked on the pastry station. Realizing that pastry was what she wanted to pursue, she moved to the U.S. where she attended the Art Institute of New York City, graduating in 2005 with an AOS in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management.

Before graduation, she began working in the pastry department at Danny Meyer’s landmark restaurant Union Square Cafe. Then in late 2006, she moved to sister Union Square Hospitality Group restaurant Gramercy Tavern, where she was able to develop her passion in to a craft under the tutelage of Pastry Chef Nancy Olson. Inspired by the kitchen there, she fell in love with all aspects of pastry, from sugar to dough. It was there that she also learned to take an immense amount of pride in each dessert as the culmination of the meal.

Then, in 2008, Sunny spent time in Atlanta where she was able to trail in different restaurants before obtaining a position at Bacchanalia, one of the city’s most celebrated and popular restaurants. The restaurant provided the perfect complement to her earlier experiences at Gramercy Tavern, as she was able to build on her knowledge of seasonal cooking and respecting ingredients

In 2009, Sunny returned to New York, landing the Pastry Chef position at Union Square Hospitality Group’s catering and events business, Union Square Events. Missing the fast pace of a restaurant kitchen, she was thrilled to have the opportunity to return to Union Square Cafe as the Pastry Chef in 2011.

At Union Square Cafe, Sunny's menu respects the much-loved desserts that have helped to make the restaurant so popular for 25 years, while creating new classics inspired by the Greenmarket just outside the restaurant’s doorstep.